Dessert chieftain

FOODIE

Master baker Anil Kumar Nagpal turns carbs into the stuff of fantasy.

It’s not every day that one speaks of healthy and its antonym in the same breath. But for Anil Kumar Nagpal, master baker at Le Meridien, New Delhi, it’s business as usual. He bakes some of the best breads in town, from loaves of multi-grain bread to tomato-pumpkin and banana and soya bread too. He’s also the one to turn to for exquisite French pastries.

If a taste-and-tell session is not enough, he also has this year’s Master Baker Award firmly in his pocket, which he won recently on International Chefs Day. “I made four varieties of bread for the competition,” he puts in, shy at being congratulated so enthusiastically for the feat. It’s doable at home, he assures us, though kneading the dough takes considerable effort.

As he puts together the yeast, gluten, flour and multi-grains, he tells us that it will only take about half an hour to bake, though before that we should let it “prove” (that is, let it rise) for half an hour. “Baking is easy,” says the chef, “if you follow the right time, temperature and proving.”

As a baker with two decades’ worth of experience, Nagpal is a confident cookie in this particular bakery. He brings in his experience in hotels around the world from Nigeria to Srinagar. “When I was in Srinagar, the Kargil war broke out. I had to come back because my family was worried,” he says.

So how tired is he of eating desserts? He smiles, non-committal, and says he definitely makes sure his four- and eight-year-old boys don’t get their hands on too much chocolate. “I make pineapple or fruit cake for them. I really don’t want their teeth to get a beating,” says Nagpal.

We’re clearly not thinking along the same lines, for our eyes follow a row of bakers/chefs layering uncountable brownies with a generous coat of melted chocolate to make truffles. Cheerfully, we move on to the Blueberry Fantasy that has been promised to us, and we are soon to find out just how easy it is — if you’ve learnt one, you’ve learnt them all.

The pastry in question turns out to be a delightful little lavender-coloured triangle garnished with fanciful icing and chocolate spirals. What we need in order to make it, in effect, is quite simply just whipped cream, blueberries, cream cheese and gelatine (which is the binding element in the mix, the chef explains). Since it’s a cold dessert, 20 minutes in the refrigerator is all it needs. Using the same process, one can make banana, strawberry and passion-fruit pastries or add any other flavour that catches your fancy and, of course, suits the season.

FAVOURITE RECIPES

BLUEBERRY FANTASY
500 gm whipped cream
150 gm blueberry compote
30 gm gelatine
200 gm cream cheese
120 gm sugar

In a bowl, mix whipped cream with blueberry compote and gelatine. Add cream cheese and sugar. On a tray, set the pastry mix gently. Let it cool in refrigerator for about 20 minutes. Bring out the pastry, which should have set by now. Apply a generous layer of blueberry compote on the pastry. Cut into triangles. You can use the remnants of the pastry in custard.

MULTI-GRAIN BREAD
200 ml water
5 gm salt
10 gm yeast
2 gm gluten
1 gm bread improver
500 gm refined flour
60 gm multi grains

Mix water and salt with yeast and gluten. Add bread improver and refined flour and knead. Wait a few minutes, add grains. Knead well. Shape dough into a loaf or small buns. Wet hand, run along loaves/buns, and then powder with more multi grains. Let dough prove for 30 minutes. Then bake in oven for 30 minutes.